GB U20s Suffer Heartbreaker vs FYR Macedonia in Euros Opener

By Sam Neter on July 4, 2013

The Great Britain Under-20s suffered a heartbreaking 60-57 loss at the buzzer to FYR Macedonia in the opener of their Division B European Championship campaign in Bulgaria on Thursday night.

After Billie Lucas hit a driving layup with 7 seconds remaining to tie it up, it appeared overtime was on the cards, but 17 year old Ivona Pejkovska hit a three pointer as time expired to give FYR Macedonia the win.

“I think it’s one that we should have taken,” said head coach Matt Johnson after the game. “I think that was a game where it was in our control, we did great to ride a wave early on and they came back and fought hard; they won the last 5 minutes 14-7 so credit to them.

“We out rebounded, we reduced our turnovers, we got where we needed to get to. We couldn’t finish under the basket, we had 80 shots and only converted 21 of them, so I think it’s in our hands.”

Lucas led GB with 13 points and 6 rebounds, Melita Emanuel-Carr had 10 points, whilst Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby dominated the glass, pulling down 12 offensive rebounds to finish with 14 in total along with her 8 points.

Matt Johnson’s side will look to bounce on Friday when they face Bulgaria at 4:15pm UK time.

Box score.

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